Arch Linux

eugiellimpin

Member

From: Philippines

Registered: 2010-12-01

Posts: 2

Arch Linux won't boot (and Linux in general)

Hello everyone,

I've been having this problem for about 3 days now. I finally made an account and post the problem since I can't find a solution (I solved most of my past problems by searching forums and googling so I had never posted before).

So, I was installing Arch linux and Windows 7 on my machine (eee pc 1201t) but had problems booting into linux. First I installed Windows and it worked fine, then I installed Arch linux (this isn't my first time) and rebooted after finishing the installation. But my laptop just won't boot. It just displayed a blinking cursor on the top left of the screen. No error messages whatsoever. It was my first time encountering the problem so I thought reinstalling would do the trick. But it didn't. So I started researching on the same problems on google and discovered that it could be either a HD problem or corrupted MBR or some other problem. My drive works fine, since I can copy data onto it using a live cd (Ubuntu) and Windows works fine with it.

I'm thinking of using "dd" command on my drive and repair the MBR. I would like to know if you guys have encountered the same problem before and what kind of solution you applied.

Note: I also tried installing Ubuntu on my machine but the result was the same.

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,356

Re: Arch Linux won't boot (and Linux in general)

Live CD, setup grub again, and profit?

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Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

nixpunk

Member

Registered: 2009-11-23

Posts: 271

Re: Arch Linux won't boot (and Linux in general)

So are you booting into windows using grub or just ntldr?

schuay

Package Maintainer (PM)

From: Austria

Registered: 2008-08-19

Posts: 564

Re: Arch Linux won't boot (and Linux in general)

As always with boot problems, you will need to provide some more data about your setup. Output of 'df -h', contents of /boot/grub/menu.lst, install location of grub, etc. Without that, other people can only make guesses about the possible solution

eugiellimpin

Member

From: Philippines

Registered: 2010-12-01

Posts: 2

Re: Arch Linux won't boot (and Linux in general)

Live CD, setup grub again, and profit?

I tried this first, had no luck or maybe I wasn't doing it right.

So are you booting into windows using grub or just ntldr?

My laptop boots using ntldr only. Grub does not seem to work. I tried installing Arch and Ubuntu but I had the same result (blinking cursor on the top left of the screen).

As always with boot problems, you will need to provide some more data about your setup. Output of 'df -h', contents of /boot/grub/menu.lst, install location of grub, etc. Without that, other people can only make guesses about the possible solution

I'll keep that in mind. Sorry for the lack of details regarding my problem. I will try to add as much information as I can the next time I post.

Anyway, I think I solved the problem. I zeroed the MBR on my HD by issuing the command "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1 and grub installed just fine. Thanks for the reply everyone.

schuay

Package Maintainer (PM)

From: Austria

Registered: 2008-08-19

Posts: 564

Re: Arch Linux won't boot (and Linux in general)

Anyway, I think I solved the problem. I zeroed the MBR on my HD by issuing the command "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1 and grub installed just fine. Thanks for the reply everyone.

Good to hear
(Please mark the thread as solved)